Sense of unity in fight against COVID-19 still lacking, says Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 -- The sense of unity among Malaysians in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic is still lacking thus contributing to the high number of positive cases, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He admitted that the standard operating procedures (SOP) compliance among the public was still an issue today even though the pandemic had been around for more than a year.

“I think this is lacking because there is actually discordance in term of our unity, instead of fighting against the virus, we are fighting against each other in term of opinion, in term of approach and etcetera,” he said.

He said this in his speech at the 1st Malaysia International Webinar on Psychological First Aid organised by Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) today.

Dr Noor Hisham assured that during the crisis, every decision was made with thorough consideration.

“When you have a life and livelihood, a balance between health and economic, how do you create a right balance, this is a very difficult and challenging job to have the minimum impact on economic and maximum outcome in health.

“This is why sometimes it’s not straightforward, because you need to take into consideration many other issues before a decision is being made,” he said. 

-- BERNAMA